Sadie Shirt Dress

For a while there my daughter had grown out of all of her dresses.  I noticed this when I went to put one on her one Sunday and you could see her little diaper poking out from the bottom... waaaay too short.  So after having to wear her only dress that did fit for a few weeks in a row, I decided it was time for me to have another attempt at sewing something practical, like an article of clothing.

Clothes scare me.

I usually sew toys because they can be wonky and mismatchy and that just adds to their charm.

Clothes are not that way.

Well, I headed over to here from Craftiness is not Optional and used the Sadie Shirt Sew Along to draw from.  The only differences I made from the Sadie Shirt was to use heavier fabric (for obvious reasons, it's winter), 

and I lengthened the shirt so that it was a dress... 

and I added pleat things...

and longer sleeves...

and cuffs.

Ok, I may have changed a few things to make it all into a warm winter dress, but I cannot tell you how amazing this tutorial is.  I've never been able to understand patterns, but Jess teaches you how to use one of your own daughter's shirts to make your own pattern.  It's fabulous.  And her design for a placket is adorable!  Okay okay, here's mine:

I have a lot of practicing to do, but this was a good start.  It turned out well enough that I actually let her wear it to church on Sunday :)